A democracy works when people actually respect each other's opinions and choices in politics. During an election in an ideal world, the majority vote overrule the minority and everyone gets along until the people get another sort of election to choose who they want to represent their views. Or, generally, that's how it should work. But as is always the case, what should be and what is are very rarely the same.

Often times, a democratic election turns into a popularity contest, not unlike American Idol in its hey-day, but rather than an actual vote regarding views and competence. And people will hurl venom at each other online over their preferred contestants. And that is exactly what is happening here in the Philippines. This is probably a side effect of the whole feudal system we've had since the 1600s, and is perpetuated in the modern semi-feudal democratic state, where your representatives aren't regular people but from the same ruling families from decades ago!

Over the course of the four years since I finished university, I have either mentioned it myself or someone else has mentioned that I miss university, or college, or high school. Perhaps, after the grand goal of graduating and escaping that rut of education, we find out that real life is not as glamorous as the movies and television shows make it seem.

My friends know of my fascination with painting miniatures. It is a hobby that I not-so-recently picked up, mostly as a way of learning new things while having fun with one of my favourite franchises. I started out with Games Workshop's Warhammer, and have slowly branched out to Warhammer 40,000 and other games and collections. Over the course of learning techniques and skills in painting, I am also faced with this undying problem of shaking my paints.

Courage. We hear that word being tossed around often, usually in the context of some imagined version of bravery that we think applies to it, but in fact may not actually be an actual form of actual bravery. Courage is often taken to imply strength and bravery, but it hardly is the same thing. A man who takes time to build body strength can be described strong, but if he lacks the bravery to face the consequences of his mistakes, then he cannot be described as a courageous man. See what I mean? They could of course be meaning that courage is an emotional sort of strength, much like a widower would have as she looks to avoid making a scene in public. This is hardly courage, as she would be practicing proper decorum more than actually resolving her feelings.The other virtues, such as prudence, temperance and mercy, these are all nice when life is easy. But it becomes almost impossible to stay prudent, calm and merciful in a difficult situation for an extended period of time. In much the same manner, courage only exists in a very difficult situation. It is not a virtue by itself, but rather the practice of all virtues at the point of testing. Where prudence by itself cannot stand, courage takes its place. It is easy to keep the virtues when things are going well, but as Winston Churchill once said, ‘It’s when you are afraid that it is hardest to choose the harder right over the easier wrong.’ Pontius Pilate was very merciful to Christ, the Bible tells us, until it became risky.

Come New Year's Day, you and I probably know at least one person who has committed to do something this coming year. Whether it is to cut down on one particular thing, or to do some other thing, or to spend more here and less over there. We call these New Year's resolutions, simply because we resolved to do them for this year. When you spend time with people, the first thing that you learn from them is that they do not always know what they want. I found that people are often susceptible to their own moods, and are prone to changing them halfway through whatever it is that they decided to throw themselves into.

Perhaps it is the side effect of humanity's nature; our natural desire to rebel against all forms of authority, even if it were ourselves that placed these restrictions upon ourselves in the form of such a resolution. Why do we bother trying, we should stop and ask ourselves this very question often. More often than not, we become so accustomed to going about our daily lives without bothering to try and understand the meaning behind most of what we do. We are merely content to go about it, or give up after trying a few times.

I was browsing the online catalogues of various fountain pen makers a few weeks back, and I came across this beautiful pen from an American company called Monteverde. After a few days of deep thought, I asked my uncle in the U.S. if he was willing to buy it on my behalf and we'd figure out how to get it to me later.

He agreed, and said it'd be his gift to me and that I ought to send him a letter using the pen. So, a quick unboxing of the said pen is what follows, and is possibly the prettiest pen I have.

I came across an old fountain pen while searching through my father's table. I was in need of a pen to sign something really quickly, and his was the closest table to me in terms of displacement, as my own table and pens are up on the second floor. This old pen was a Parker Jotter, and according to the story I was given, it was a promotional item given at an old conference he attended to many years ago, hence the old faded printed BASF on the side. He gave up using it after the free cartridge ran out, as he did not have time to find out where to find the ink could be bought. Considering that I inherited my father's pragmatic nature, I understood what he meant: if it takes too much time to find, it can always be replaced.

It would be safe to assume that almost everyone on the face of the planet has had at least one sort of non-lazy activity that they've done. Something that does not involve sitting around in the house, eating chips or Nutella or watching television all day. It would have to be something that involves other people, an activity or something of the kind. Perhaps it was a sports game, where the crowds were riveted to their benches trying to figure out which player on which team would have the chance to break the deadlock. Or perhaps it is you taking the time out to take a walk through the park. Or maybe it is as simple as clearing out some of your old junk gathering in the corner of your room, out of sight and out of mind.

You'd actually be surprised at how much intelligence and common sense grow further and further apart in the supposedly most-educated era of human history. People educate themselves, and knowledge progresses at such an astounding rate. Most people you meet in the street today have had far more schooling than many great men in history, and yet, despite the rising levels of intellect, you also find a disturbing and glaring lack of common sense.

Let's suppose a book was written by some middle-class continental European citizen around two hundred years ago. This book contained certain ideas that were so drastic that some considered it scandalous enough to radically change society in one way or entirely. A few years pass, and the book has inspired a whole movement of people who read to subscribing to the ideas presented in the book and have managed to gain some considerable political power.

I'm not entirely sure how long I have been waiting for the release of the post-L.A.E. interviews schedule. See, the thing about waiting for something this important is that it kills you slowly and steadily. Like the creeping fingers of cold in the first days of winter, or its slow-leaving lingering wake. How long do I have to wait, and will I be accepted in or do I have to accept denial again with dignity and maintain composure?

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